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    Ocean Circulation and Climate: A 21st Century Perspective
    Ocean Circulation and Climate: A 21st Century Perspective
    Ocean Circulation and Climate: A 21st Century Perspective
    Ebook2,966 pages34 hours

    Ocean Circulation and Climate: A 21st Century Perspective

    By Academic Press

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    About this ebook

    The book represents all the knowledge we currently have on ocean circulation. It presents an up-to-date summary of the state of the science relating to the role of the oceans in the physical climate system.

    The book is structured to guide the reader through the wide range of world ocean circulation experiment (WOCE) science in a consistent way. Cross-references between contributors have been added, and the book has a comprehensive index and unified reference list.

    The book is simple to read, at the undergraduate level. It was written by the best scientists in the world who have collaborated to carry out years of experiments to better understand ocean circulation.

    • Presents in situ and remote observations with worldwide coverage
    • Provides theoretical understanding of processes within the ocean and at its boundaries to other Earth System components
    • Allows for simulating ocean and climate processes in the past, present and future using a hierarchy of physical-biogeochemical models
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAcademic Press
    Release dateOct 22, 2013
    ISBN9780123918536
    Ocean Circulation and Climate: A 21st Century Perspective

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      Book preview

      Ocean Circulation and Climate - Academic Press

      Ocean Circulation and Climate

      A 21st Century Perspective

      INTERNATIONAL GEOPHYSICS SERIES VOLUME 103C

      Edited by

      Gerold Siedler

      Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research, Kiel, Germany

      Stephen M. Griffies

      NOAA Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, Princeton, USA

      John Gould

      National Oceanography Centre, Southampton, UK

      John A. Church

      Centre for Australian Weather and Climate Research, A Partnership between CSIRO and the Bureau of Meteorology, Hobart, Australia

      Table of Contents

      Cover image

      Title page

      Copyright

      Contributors

      Acknowledgments

      Cover Graphics

      Preface

      Part I: The Ocean’s Role in the Climate System

      Part I: The Ocean's Role in the Climate System

      Chapter 1. The Ocean as a Component of the Climate System

      Abstract

      1 Setting the Scene

      2 The Ocean as an Exchanging Earth System Reservoir

      3 Atmosphere–Ocean Fluxes and Meridional Transports

      4 Global-Scale Surface and Deep Ocean Circulations

      5 Large-Scale Modes of Variability Involving the Ocean

      6 The Ocean's Role in Past Climate Change

      7 The Ocean in the Anthropocene

      8 Concluding Thoughts

      Acknowledgments

      References

      Chapter 2. Paleoclimatic Ocean Circulation and Sea-Level Changes

      Abstract

      1 Introduction

      2 Reconstructing Past Ocean States

      3 The Oceans in the Quaternary

      4 The Deeper Past

      5 Outlook

      Acknowledgments

      References

      Part II: Ocean Observations

      Part II: Ocean Observations

      Chapter 3. In Situ Ocean Observations: A Brief History, Present Status, and Future Directions

      Abstract

      1 Introduction

      2 Development of Present Observational Capability

      3 Emerging and Specialized Ocean Observing Technologies

      4 Changes in Data Volume and Coverage and Implication for Synthesis Products

      5 The Future: Outstanding Issues and a New Framework for Global Ocean Observing

      6 Conclusions

      References

      Chapter 4. Remote Sensing of the Global Ocean Circulation

      Abstract

      1 Introduction

      2 Ocean General Circulation

      3 Variability of the Large-Scale Ocean Circulation

      4 Mesoscale Eddies and Fronts

      5 Summary and Outlook

      Acknowledgments

      References

      Part III: Ocean Processes

      Part III: Ocean Processes

      Chapter 5. Exchanges Through the Ocean Surface

      Abstract

      1 Introduction

      2 Air–Sea Exchange Formulae and Climatological Fields

      3 Measurement Techniques and Review of Datasets

      4 Variability and Extremes

      5 Ocean Impacts

      6 Outlook and Conclusions

      Acknowledgments

      References

      Chapter 6. Thermodynamics of Seawater

      Abstract

      1 Introduction

      2 Absolute Salinity SA and Preformed Salinity S*

      3 The Gibbs-Function Approach to Evaluating Thermodynamic Properties

      4 The First Law of Thermodynamics and Conservative Temperature Θ

      5 The 48-Term Expression for Specific Volume

      6 Changes to Oceanographic Practice Under TEOS-10

      7 Ocean Modeling Using TEOS-10

      8 Summary

      Acknowledgments

      References

      Chapter 7. Diapycnal Mixing Processes in the Ocean Interior

      Abstract

      1 Introduction

      2 Mixing Basics

      3 Turbulence in and Below the Surface Mixed Layer

      4 Mixing in the Ocean Interior

      5 Discussion

      6 Summary and Future Directions

      Acknowledgments

      References

      Chapter 8. Lateral Transport in the Ocean Interior

      Abstract

      1 Introduction

      2 Theory of Mass, Tracer, and Vector Transport

      3 Observations and Models of Spatial Variations of Eddy Statistics

      4 Mesoscale Isoneutral Diffusivity Variation Parameterizations

      5 Conclusions and Remaining Questions

      Acknowledgment

      References

      Chapter 9. Global Distribution and Formation of Mode Waters

      Abstract

      1 Mode Water Observations

      2 Global Water Mass Census of the Upper Ocean

      3 Global Distribution of Mode Water

      4 Formation of Mode Water

      5 PV Framework

      6 Mode Water and Climate

      7 Conclusions

      Acknowledgments

      References

      Chapter 10. Deepwater Formation

      Abstract

      1 Introduction

      2 Processes of Deepwater Formation

      3 Interannual and Decadal Variability in Properties, Formation Rate, and Circulation

      4 Conclusions and Outlook

      References

      Part VI: Ocean Circulation and Water Masses

      Part IV: Ocean Circulation and Water Masses

      Chapter 11. Conceptual Models of the Wind-Driven and Thermohaline Circulation

      Abstract

      1 Introduction

      2 Wind-Driven Circulation

      3 Thermohaline Circulation

      4 Transient Behaviour of the Wind-Driven and Thermohaline Circulation

      5 Discussion and Perspective

      Acknowledgments

      References

      Chapter 12. Ocean Surface Circulation

      Abstract

      1 Observed Near-Surface Currents

      2 Geostrophic Surface Circulation

      3 Ageostrophic Currents

      4 Regional Surface Ocean Dynamics

      5 Applications

      6 Future Directions

      Acknowledgments

      References

      Chapter 13. Western Boundary Currents

      Abstract

      1 General Features

      2 North Atlantic

      3 South Atlantic

      4 Indian Ocean

      5 North Pacific

      6 South Pacific

      7 Concluding Remarks

      Acknowledgments

      References

      Chapter 14. Currents and Processes along the Eastern Boundaries

      Abstract

      1 Introduction and General Background

      2 Low-Latitude EBCs

      3 Midlatitude EBCs: The EBUS

      4 High-Latitude EBCs

      5 Climate Variability and the Ocean’s Eastern Boundaries

      6 Summary

      Acknowledgments

      References

      Chapter 15. The Tropical Ocean Circulation and Dynamics

      Abstract

      1 Introduction

      2 Tropical Pacific Variability

      3 Tropical Atlantic Variability

      4 Tropical Indian Ocean Variability

      5 Progresses in Tropical Climate Predictions

      6 Outlooks

      Acknowledgments

      References

      Chapter 16. The Marine Cryosphere

      Abstract

      1 Introduction

      2 Sea Ice

      3 Land Ice

      4 Marine Permafrost

      5 Emerging Capabilities

      6 Cryospheric Change

      7 Summary

      References

      Chapter 17. The Arctic and Subarctic Oceans/Seas

      Abstract

      1 Introduction

      2 Exchanges with the Subpolar Oceans and Beyond

      3 Currents and Water Mass Transformations in the Arctic/Subarctic

      4 Evidence of Long-term Changes in the Arctic/Subarctic

      5 Conclusions

      Acknowledgments

      References

      Chapter 18. Dynamics of the Southern Ocean Circulation

      Abstract

      1 Introduction

      2 Progress in Understanding Southern Ocean Dynamics During WOCE (1990–2002)

      3 The Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC)

      4 Southern Ocean Overturning Circulation

      5 Southern Ocean Change

      6 Summary and Outstanding Challenges

      Acknowledgments

      References

      Chapter 19. Interocean and Interbasin Exchanges

      Abstract

      1 Introduction

      2 Interocean Exchanges at Choke Points

      3 Interbasin Exchanges

      4 Deep Passages

      5 Discussion

      Acknowledgments

      References

      Part V: Modeling the Ocean Climate System

      Part V: Modeling the Ocean Climate System

      Chapters in This Part of the Book

      The Need for Ongoing Efforts from Future Generations

      Chapter 20. Ocean Circulation Models and Modeling

      Abstract

      1 Scope of this Chapter

      2 Physical and Numerical Basis for Ocean Models

      3 Ocean Modeling: Science Emerging from Simulations

      4 Summary Remarks

      Acknowledgments

      References

      Chapter 21. Dynamically and Kinematically Consistent Global Ocean Circulation and Ice State Estimates

      Abstract

      1 Introduction

      2 Definition

      3 Data Assimilation and the Reanalyses

      4 Ocean State Estimates

      5 Global-Scale Solutions

      6 The Uncertainty Problem

      7 Discussion

      Acknowledgments

      References

      Chapter 22. Methods and Applications of Ocean Synthesis in Climate Research

      Abstract

      1 Introduction

      2 Methods with a Focus on Developments in the Last Decade

      3 Applications for Climate Research

      4 Assessments of the Impact of New and Future Climate Observing Systems

      5 Conclusion and Future Challenges

      Acknowledgments

      References

      Chapter 23. Coupled Models and Climate Projections

      Abstract

      1 Formulation of Coupled Models

      2 Flux Adjustments

      3 Control Runs

      4 Twentieth Century Runs

      5 Future Projections

      6 North Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation

      7 El Nino/Southern Oscillation

      8 Uses of Climate Models

      9 Limitations of Climate Models

      10 Cutting Edge Issues

      Acknowledgments

      References

      Further Reading

      Chapter 24. The Ocean’s Role in Modeling and Predicting Seasonal-to-Interannual Climate Variations

      Abstract

      1 Introduction

      2 The Scientific Basis for Seasonal-to-Interannual Prediction

      3 Development of Seasonal-to-Interannual Prediction Systems

      4 Closing Remarks: Challenges for the Future Research

      Acknowledgments

      References

      Chapter 25. The Ocean's Role in Modeling and Predicting Decadal Climate Variations

      Abstract

      Abbreviations

      1 Introduction

      2 Tropical Pacific and Tropical Atlantic Decadal Variability

      3 Description of Extratropical Decadal Variability from Observations

      4 The Stochastic Climate Model: The Null Hypothesis for Climate Variability

      5 Decadal Predictability

      6 Summary and Discussion

      Acknowledgments

      References

      Chapter 26. Modeling Ocean Biogeochemical Processes and the Resulting Tracer Distributions

      Abstract

      1 Goals of Ocean Biogeochemical Modeling within Climate Research

      2 Concepts and Methods of Biogeochemical Ocean Modeling

      3 Model Results, Evaluation, Skill, and Limits, and Model Data Fusion/Data Assimilation

      4 Major Marine Carbon Modeling Findings of the Recent Decade

      5 Conclusion

      Acknowledgments

      References

      Further Reading

      Part VI: The Changing Ocean

      Part VI: The Changing Ocean

      Chapter 27. Sea-Level and Ocean Heat-Content Change

      Abstract

      1 Introduction

      2 Fundamental Concepts of Sea-Level Change

      3 Observations of Sea-Level Change

      4 Observations of Ocean Heat-Content and Steric Sea-Level Change

      5 Understanding Observed Sea-Level Change

      6 Prediction and Projections of Future Sea-Level Change

      7 Future Outlook

      Acknowledgments

      References

      Chapter 28. Long-term Salinity Changes and Implications for the Global Water Cycle

      Abstract

      1 Introduction

      2 Salinity Observations in the Global Oceans

      3 Observed Salinity Variability

      4 Observed Long-Term Changes to Ocean Salinity

      5 Ocean Salinity—Relationship to the Global Water Cycle

      6 Modeling Ocean Salinity Variability and Change

      7 Summary and Outlook

      Acknowledgments

      References

      Further Reading

      Chapter 29. Ocean Heat Transport

      Abstract

      1 Background

      2 Calculation of Ocean Heat Transport

      3 Observation-Based Estimates of Ocean Heat Transport

      4 Understanding Mechanisms

      5 Ocean Heat Transport Variability

      6 Synthesis and Summary

      References

      Further-Reading

      Chapter 30. The Marine Carbon Cycle and Ocean Carbon Inventories

      Abstract

      1 Introduction and Background to the Marine Carbon Cycle

      2 History of Observations and Capacity to Collect Marine Carbon Cycle Measurements

      3 The Anthropogenic Perturbation of the Marine Carbonate System

      4 Ocean Inventories, Storage Rates, and Uptake of CO2 and Cant

      5 Ocean Time-Series Validation of Trends in DIC/pCO2/Cant

      6 Conclusion and Outlook

      Acknowledgments

      References

      Further Reading

      Chapter 31. Marine Ecosystems, Biogeochemistry, and Climate

      Abstract

      1 Introduction

      2 Phytoplankton, Primary Production, and Climate

      3 Climate Impacts on Higher Trophic Levels

      4 Ocean Acidification

      5 Deoxygenation and Hypoxia

      6 Marine Biogeochemical Cycles–Climate Interactions

      7 Observational and Research Directions

      Acknowledgments

      References

      Index

      Copyright

      Academic Press is an imprint of Elsevier

      The Boulevard, Langford Lane, Kidlington, Oxford OX5 1GB, UK

      Radarweg 29, PO Box 211, 1000 AE Amsterdam, The Netherlands

      Copyright © 2013, 2001 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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      Notice

      No responsibility is assumed by the publisher for any injury and/or damage to persons or property as a matter of products liability, negligence or otherwise, or from any use or operation of any methods, products, instructions or ideas contained in the material herein. Because of rapid advances in the medical sciences, in particular, independent verification of diagnoses and drug dosages should be made.

      British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

      A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

      Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

      A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress

      ISBN: 978-0-12-391851-2

      ISSN: 0074-6142

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      Printed and bound in China

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      Contributors

      Numbers in parentheses indicate the Chapter on which the authors contributions begin.

      Molly O. Baringer

      (Chapter 29), NOAA/Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory, Miami, Florida, USA

      molly.baringer@noaa.gov

      Nicholas R. Bates

      (Chapter 30), Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences, Ferry Reach, Bermuda

      nick.bates@bios.edu

      Lisa Beal

      (Chapter 13), Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, University of Miami, Miami, Florida, USA

      lbeal@rsmas.miami.edu

      Swadhin Behera

      (Chapter 15), Research Institute for Global Change, JAMSTEC, Yokohama, Japan

      behera@jamstec.go.jp

      Amy S. Bower

      (Chapter 13), Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, Massachusetts, USA

      abower@whoi.edu

      Tim P. Boyer

      (Chapter 28), National Oceanographic Data Center, NOAA, Silver Spring, Maryland, USA

      tim.boyer@noaa.gov

      Peter Brandt

      (Chapter 15), Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel (GEOMAR), Kiel, Germany

      pbrandt@geomar.de

      F.O. Bryan

      (Chapter 8), National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colorado, USA

      bryan@ucar.edu

      JohnL.Bullister

      (Chapter 10), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration—Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory (NOAA-PMEL), Seattle, Washington, USA

      John.L.Bullister@noaa.gov

      Robert Burgman

      (Chapter 24), Florida International University, Miami, Florida, USA

      rburgman@fiu.edu

      Luca Centurioni

      (Chapter 12), Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California, USA

      lcenturioni@ucsd.edu

      John A. Church

      (Chapter 27), Centre for Australian Weather and Climate Research, and CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research and Wealth from Oceans Flagship, GPO Box 1538, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia

      John.Church@csiro.au

      Vincent Combes

      (Chapter 14), College of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon, USA

      vcombes@coas.oregonstate.edu

      Henk A. Dijkstra

      (Chapter 11), Institute for Marine Atmospheric research Utrecht, Department of Physics and Astronomy,UtrechtUniversity, Utrecht, The Netherlands

      H.A.Dijkstra@uu.nl

      Catia M. Domingues

      (Chapter 27), Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems Cooperative Research Centre, University of Tasmania, Private Bag 80, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia

      Catia.Domingues@csiro.au

      Scott C. Doney

      (Chapter 31), Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, Massachusetts, USA

      sdoney@whoi.edu

      Sybren S. Drijfhout

      (Chapter 11), School of Ocean and Earth Science, University of Southampton, Southampton, United Kingdom, and Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute, De Bilt, The Netherlands

      sybren.drijfhout@knmi.nl

      Paul J. Durack

      (Chapter 28), Program for Climate Model Diagnosis and Intercomparison (PCMDI), Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, California, USA, and CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research, Hobart, Australia

      durack1@llnl.gov

      Rainer Feistel

      (Chapter 6), Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research, Warnemuende, Germany

      rainer.feistel@io-warnemuende.de

      Georg Feulner

      (Chapter 2), Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Potsdam, Germany

      georg.feulner@pik-potsdam.de

      Gael Forget

      (Chapter 9), Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

      gforget@mit.edu

      B. Fox-Kemper

      (Chapter 8), Geological Sciences, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, USA

      bfk@colorado.edu

      Lee-Lueng Fu

      (Chapter 4), Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA

      llf@jpl.nasa.gov

      Alberto C. Naveira Garabato

      (Chapters 7 and 18), National Oceanography Centre, University of Southampton, Southampton, United Kingdom

      acng@noc.soton.ac.uk

      Marion Gehlen

      (Chapter 26), Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l’Environnement (LSCE), UMR, CEACNRS, Gif-sur-Yvette, France

      marion.gehlen@cea.fr

      Peter R. Gent

      (Chapter 23), National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colorado, USA

      gent@ucar.edu

      John Gould

      (Chapter 3), National Oceanography Centre, Southampton, United Kingdom

      wjg@noc.soton.ac.uk

      Stephen M. Griffies

      (Chapter 20), NOAA Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, Princeton, New Jersey, USA

      stephen.griffies@noaa.gov

      Serge Gulev

      (Chapter 5), P.P. Shirshov Institute of Oceanology, Moscow, Russia

      gul@sail.msk.ru

      Patrick Heimbach

      (Chapter 21), Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

      heimbach@mit.edu

      Christoph Heinze

      (Chapter 26), Geophysical Institute, University of Bergen; Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research, and Uni Klima, Uni Research, Bergen, Norway

      christoph.heinze@gfi.uib.no

      David M. Holland

      (Chapter 16), Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, New York University, New York, USA

      holland@cims.nyu.edu

      Shiro Imawaki

      (Chapter 13), Japan Agency for Marine– Earth Science and Technology, Yokohama, Japan

      imawaki@jamstec.go.jp

      Simon A. Josey

      (Chapter 5), National Oceanography Centre, Southampton, United Kingdom

      simon.josey@noc.soton.ac.uk

      Ben P. Kirtman

      (Chapter 24), University of Miami— RSMAS, Miami, Florida, USA

      bkirtman@rsmas.miami.edu

      Arne Körtzinger

      (Chapter 30), Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel (GEOMAR), Kiel, Germany

      akoertzinger@geomar.de

      Mojib Latif

      (Chapter 25), Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel (GEOMAR), and Cluster of Excellence The Future Ocean, Kiel University, Kiel, Germany

      mlatif@geomar.de

      Tong Lee

      (Chapter 22), Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA

      Tong.Lee@jpl.nasa.gov

      R. Lumpkin

      (Chapters 8 and 12), Physical Oceanography Division, Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory, Miami, Florida, USA

      Rick.Lumpkin@noaa.gov

      Alison M. Macdonald

      (Chapter 29), Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, Massachusetts, USA

      amacdonald@whoi.edu

      Jennifer MacKinnon

      (Chapter 7), Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, California, USA

      jmackinn@ucsd.edu

      David P. Marshall

      (Chapter 11), Department of Physics, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom

      marshall@atm.ox.ac.uk

      Shuhei Masuda

      (Chapter 22), Research Institute for Global Change, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC), Yokohama, Japan

      smasuda@jamstec.go.jp

      Cecilie Mauritzen

      (Chapters 10 and 17), CICERO Center for International Climate and Environmental Research Oslo, Oslo, Norway, and CICERO Center for Climate and Environmental Research—Oslo, Oslo, Norway

      c.mauritzen@met.no

      Nikolai Maximenko

      (Chapter 12), International Pacific Research Center, School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA

      maximenk@hawaii.edu

      Trevor J. McDougall

      (Chapter 6), University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

      trevor.mcdougall@unsw.edu.au

      Herlé Mercier

      (Chapter 19), CNRS, Laboratoire de Physique des Océans, Plouzané, France

      Herle.Mercier@ifremer.fr

      Elaine R. Miles

      (Chapter 27), Bureau of Meteorology, GPO Box 1289, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

      e.miles@bom.gov.au

      Didier P. Monselesan

      (Chapter 27), Centre for Australian Weather and Climate Research, and CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research and Wealth from Oceans Flagship, GPO Box 1538, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia

      Didier.Monselesan@csiro.au

      Rosemary Morrow

      (Chapter 4), Laboratoire des Etudes en Géophysique et Océanographie Spatiale, Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées, Toulouse, France

      Rosemary.Morrow@cnes.fr

      Rich Pawlowicz

      (Chapter 6), University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

      rich@eos.ubc.ca

      Oscar Pizarro

      (Chapter 14), Department of Geophysics and Center for Oceanographic Research in the Eastern South Pacific (COPAS), University of Concepcion, Chile

      opizarro@udec.cl

      Bo Qiu

      (Chapter 13), School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA

      bo@soest.hawaii.edu

      Stefan Rahmstorf

      (Chapter 2), Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Potsdam, Germany

      stefan.rahmstorf@pik-potsdam.de

      Gilles Reverdin

      (Chapter 15), Laboratoire d’Océanographie et du Climate (LOCEAN), Paris, France

      reve@locean-ipsl.upmc.fr

      Monika Rhein

      (Chapter 10), Institute of Environmental Physics IUP, University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany

      mrhein@physik.uni-bremen.de

      Stephen R. Rintoul

      (Chapter 18), CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research, Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems Cooperative Research Centre, University of Tasmania, Centre for Australian Weather and Climate Research, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia

      Steve.Rintoul@csiro.au

      Bert Rudels

      (Chapter 17), Finnish Meteorological Institute, Erik Palménin aukio 1, P.O. Box 503, FI-00101 Helsinki, Finland

      rudels@fmi.fi

      Andreas Schiller

      (Chapter 22), Centre for Australian Weather and Climate Research, CSIRO Wealth from Oceans Flagship, Hobart, Australia

      Andreas.Schiller@csiro.au

      Frank A. Shillington

      (Chapter 14), Department of Oceanography and Nansen-Tutu Centre, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch, South Africa

      frank.shillington@uct.ac.za

      Gerold Siedler

      (Chapter 19), Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel (GEOMAR), Kiel, Germany

      gsiedler@geomar.de

      Bernadette Sloyan

      (Chapter 3), CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research, GPO Box 1538, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia

      Bernadette.Sloyan@csiro.au

      Kevin Speer

      (Chapter 9), Department of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Science, the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Institute, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida, USA

      kspeer@ocean.fsu.edu

      Janet Sprintall

      (Chapter 19), Scripps Institution of Oceanography, U.C. San Diego, La Jolla, California, USA

      jsprintall@ucsd.edu

      Lou St Laurent

      (Chapter 7), Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, Massachusetts, USA

      lstlaurent@whoi.edu

      Tim Stockdale

      (Chapter 24), European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, Shinfield Park, United Kingdom

      Tim.Stockdale@ecmwf.int

      Thomas F. Stocker

      (Chapter 1), Physics Institute, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland

      stocker@climate.unibe.ch

      P. Ted Strub

      (Chapter 14), College of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon, USA

      tstrub@coas.oregonstate.edu

      Toste Tanhua

      (Chapter 30), Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel (GEOMAR), Kiel, Germany

      ttanhua@geomar.de

      John Toole

      (Chapter 17), Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, Massachusetts, USA

      jtoole@whoi.edu

      Anne Marie Treguier

      (Chapter 20), Laboratoire de Physique des Océans, LPO, Brest, France

      treguier@ifremer.fr

      Martin Visbeck

      (Chapter 3), Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel (GEOMAR), Kiel, Germany

      mvisbeck@geomar.de

      Neil J. White

      (Chapter 27), Centre for Australian Weather and Climate Research, and CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research and Wealth from Oceans Flagship, GPO Box 1538, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia

      Neil.White@csiro.au

      Susan E. Wijffels

      (Chapter 28), CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research, Hobart, Australia

      Susan.Wijffels@csiro.au

      Carl Wunsch

      (Chapter 21), Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

      cwunsch@mit.edu

      Lisan Yu

      (Chapter 5), Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, Massachusetts, USA

      lyu@whoi.edu

      Acknowledgments

      The editors want to thank all the mostly anonymous reviewers for their invaluable help in the preparation of the book and in checking and improving all the individual chapters. We also want to acknowledge the support of individual authors and institutions in preparing the figure set. G. S. wants to thank his colleagues at the Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel (GEOMAR) for their manifold help and advice and his wife for her patience and support. S. M. G. thanks his colleagues at NOAA/GFDL for continued fruitful collaboration and inspiration over the past 20 years, resulting in a wonderful environment for conducting fundamental research into some of the hard-problems of climate science. He also thanks his family for patient support while completing this project. J. G. thanks the National Oceanography Centre for his position as a visiting scientist during the preparation of this book and his wife, Hilary, for her encouragement and support. J. A. C. thanks his family and colleagues for their generous support and was partly supported in the preparation of this publication by the Australian Government Department of Industry, Innovation, Climate Change, Science, Research and Tertiary Education, the Bureau of Meteorology and CSIRO through the Australian Climate Change Science Program.

      Cover Graphics

      Front cover images are views of the ocean developed since the first edition was published and were prepared at CSIRO Hobart, Australia.

      Main image was prepared by Neil White and Lea Crosswell, CSIRO Hobart. Pacific: the trend of sea level from 1993 through 2012 from satellite altimeter missions, showing larger average rates of rise in the western Pacific/eastern Indian Oceans and smaller values in the eastern Pacific Ocean (see http://www.cmar.csiro.au/sealevel/sl_hist_last_15.html). Atlantic: log10 of the daily mean surface ocean speed in a 1/10th degree configuration of the Modular Ocean Model (MOM) used in a global coupled climate model developed at NOAA’s Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory. Such ocean model resolution allows for a realistic representation of the ocean mesoscale eddy field. Indian: 1993–2002 mean zonal surface geostrophic velocity was calculated as described in Figure 12.3. It reveals a web of nearly ubiquitous jet-like features usually hidden by eddy noise.

      Shadow image prepared by Bernadette Sloyan is a composite of the 3000+ floats of the CTD profiling Argo array and the lines along which the GO-SHIP project measures top to bottom ocean properties (see Chapter 3).

      Preface

      Gerold Siedler

      Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research, Kiel, Germany

      Stephen M. Griffies

      NOAA Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, Princeton, USA

      John Gould

      National Oceanography Centre, Southampton, UK

      John A. Church

      Centre for Australian Weather and Climate Research, A Partnership between CSIRO and the Bureau of Meteorology, Hobart, Australia

      Recognition, by scientists and nonscientists alike, of the oceans’ important role in our climate has grown enormously in the past 25 years. In part, this growth was driven by the World Ocean Circulation Experiment (WOCE), the planning for which started in the 1980s and on which the first edition of this book, published in 2001, was focused. Although the issues relating to climate variability and change were well known in 2001, they occupy a far more central position in oceanography and climate science in 2013. The increased focus on climate change and its socioeconomic consequences has arisen from the accumulation of unambiguous evidence of substantial changes in the climate system associated with human activities. The oceans are central to these changes as we document increases in the ocean heat and carbon content, sea-level rise, Arctic sea-ice loss, ocean acidification, and more. These changes are so important that they provide the impetus for many present-day ocean research programs. Hence it is no accident that a number of authors of the present volume also played key roles in the Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) completed in October 2013. The ocean science community is increasingly being asked to provide expertise to help chart a path toward sustainability in a world where significant change is inevitable. In parallel with this increased recognition, our understanding of the oceans and our capability to observe and model them has improved enormously. WOCE was a major driver of this improvement and progress has continued to be made by WOCE’s successor projects in the World Climate Research Programme, by initiatives of the Global Climate Observing System and by many national programs.

      We have been struck, as we trust our readers will be, by the enormous progress in ocean observations and modeling that has been made since the publication of the first edition of Ocean Circulation and Climate. In 2001, the first floats were deployed in the Argo profiling float array. Argo has since become a mainstay of our in situ ocean-observing system. In 2004, routine monitoring of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation started and continues to this day. Since the beginning of the twenty-first century, our observational capability, data delivery, and quality control systems have advanced to the point where ocean indices and gridded fields can be presented on a weekly or monthly basis, not only at the ocean surface but also for the subsurface ocean. We have a new and rigorous equation of the state of seawater and a redefinition of salinity published in 2010. We can now investigate interannual, and to some degree decadal, variability and change of sea level using more than 20 years of satellite altimetry measurements.

      The first goal of WOCE was to develop ocean models for use in climate research. The significant improvement of coupled atmosphere-ocean general circulation models has in part been underpinned by progress made during and since WOCE, but has also been aided by the relentless increase in computing power. Models of the global ocean commonly, though not yet routinely, include mesoscale features (eddies, fronts, boundary currents) that were extremely rare in models circa 2001. Consequently, simulations, particularly those assimilating observations, play a central role in interpreting the current state of the ocean and in aiding the planning for new measurement programs. Progress in computer power has allowed not only more realistic representations of ocean physics but also the inclusion of ocean biogeochemistry. These models also no longer rely on artificial flux corrections to prevent model drift.

      A deeper conceptual understanding of the role that the oceans play in climate has been prompted by the many improvements to the observational record and enhanced modeling capabilities. The particular role that the oceans play in long-term climate variations, trends, and in the predictability of these changes is greatly aided by idealized conceptual models, with significant progress made along these lines over the past decade.

      This book aims at presenting ocean science and its relevance to climate more than a decade after the first edition of Ocean Circulation and Climate. When we were approached by Elsevier to consider editing a second edition, we were initially reticent, remembering the magnitude of the work involved in producing the first edition. However, our peers and younger colleagues reassured us of the value of the first edition as a unique resource documenting the state of knowledge of the oceans’ role in climate following WOCE; a project in which we were all variously involved. We were encouraged to develop the second edition presenting A 21st Century Perspective.

      The achievements attained by the end of WOCE provided an almost entirely physically focused snapshot of the ocean as documented in the first edition. However, since 2001, there has been progress on a broader front. In part, this is due to the significant lengthening of the record of changing ocean properties with the WOCE era observations providing a state of the ocean in the 1990s benchmark. The greater maturity and comprehensiveness of the network of ocean observations was founded during WOCE and was subsequently stimulated by the 1999 and 2009 OceanObs conferences, with the second of these having a more interdisciplinary focus. For this new edition of the book, we aimed to have a strong involvement of scientists whose careers developed during and after WOCE. Our authors include a great proportion of younger scientists from the post-WOCE generation.

      This second edition of Ocean Circulation and Climate leads the reader through the important areas of progress since the first edition. It is composed of six parts each prefaced by a short introduction. The reader is initiated in the ocean’s role in climate by Part I. In Parts II – IV we discuss developments in ocean observations, processes in the ocean and elements of the global-scale circulation. Modeling of the ocean and the coupled climate system and its changes are discussed in Parts V and VI. While the book focuses on ocean physics, we have also included related paleoclimatic findings and descriptions of biogeochemical processes, marine ecosystems, and the carbon cycle. There are inevitable overlaps between chapters, and cross-references are inserted where appropriate. Production of the book ran in parallel with the preparation of the IPCC AR5 for which this book provides an ocean-focused complement addressing the underpinning scientific issues.

      Despite the enormous progress made during and since the WOCE era, many challenges remain. Perhaps first and foremost is maintaining the in situ and satellite observational capability and filling the remaining gaps to provide a comprehensive knowledge and understanding of how and why the oceans are changing. Development of ocean and climate models will require continued and strengthened partnerships between ocean, atmospheric, and cryospheric modelers and with the observational community. The ocean–cryosphere interaction is an important and urgent challenge.

      There are also new opportunities, particularly as the length of observational time series increases and as new and innovative techniques become established. For example, this edition has little focus on the various gravity missions that are beginning to bring new insights into ocean circulation and its variability. These missions are likely to have a much bigger impact on a subsequent edition of this book. More powerful computers and improved ocean model representation will allow greater resolution of ocean features and greater coupling of physical, cryospheric, biogeochemical, and ecosystem elements of the ocean.

      With continued enthusiasm within the ocean science community to address the challenging issues of ocean climate, we are confident that the future for understanding the ocean circulation, its interaction with the atmosphere and the cryosphere, and the related biogeochemical and ecosystem sciences is bright.

      Part I: The Ocean’s Role in the Climate System

      Outline

      Part I: The Ocean's Role in the Climate System

      Chapter 1 The Ocean as a Component of the Climate System

      Chapter 2 Paleoclimatic Ocean Circulation and Sea-Level Changes

      Part I: The Ocean's Role in the Climate System

      This book is concerned with the role of the ocean in the climate system, with a focus on physical processes relevant to scientifically describing and understanding that role. The two chapters in this Part I offer a context for the discussion extending over the nearly 30 chapters that follow. We are introduced in this Part to notions of the huge space and time scales over which ocean phenomena play a role in climate. Such phenomena extend from the millimeter and seconds relevant for irreversibly mixing heat, carbon, and other tracers, to the global scales of sea level changes, water mass variations, and air–sea interactions that comprise natural and anthropogenic climate fluctuations. We also encounter evidence seen for rather large fluctuations in the paleo record, and consider future climate scenarios suggested through computer simulations.

      The ocean is often termed the flywheel of the climate system. This metaphor has relevance given that roughly 3 m of the ocean contains heat equivalent to the entire atmosphere. Furthermore, the ocean absorbs the relatively rapid synoptic atmospheric fluctuations in a way that provides a low pass filter to the climate system, and in so doing reflects the vast thermal inertia available in the ocean. Furthermore, the ocean transfers mechanical energy across space and time scales, thus adding both richness and complexity to ocean phenomena. These properties form part of the foundation for how the ocean interacts with other components of the earth climate system.

      As oceanographers explore the ocean through theory, observations, and simulations, they continue to solidify the perspective that nearly all ocean phenomena play some role in climate. For example, climate scientists as recently as the early 1990s discounted the role of astronomical ocean tides, assuming they merely add a few harmonic wiggles to measurements yet have no major impact on climate. However, research on the role of tides and ocean mixing, and the associated role of ocean mixing on climate, provide striking evidence for the basic connection between tides and climate. Other examples can be identified where developing a fundamental understanding of ocean processes is prerequisite to establishing a deeper and more predictive description of climate. This theme forms part of the mandate for this book.

      Science generally evolves through methodical additions to previous theories and observations, as well as through the somewhat chaotic paradigm shifts arrived at through new insights, data, and perspectives. Oceanography and climate science have seen their share of such evolutionary steps, with examples provided in the two chapters of this Part as well as others exhibited throughout this book. We trust that this Part will whet the appetite for readers as they further explore elements of how the ocean forms a fundamental component of the earth’s climate system.

      Chapter 1

      The Ocean as a Component of the Climate System

      Thomas F. Stocker,    Physics Institute, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland

      Abstract

      A broad perspective of the ocean as a key component of the Earth System and of its role in the past, present, and future climate change is provided. The ocean is a huge reservoir of heat, mass, carbon, and many other quantities, and their estimated exchange fluxes suggest characteristic timescales of adjustment ranging from decades to many thousands of years. Surface patterns and meridional fluxes of these quantities highlight the important role of the wind-driven circulation and the deep ocean flow systems through all ocean basins. Ocean-dominated phenomena of natural variability, in particular associated with the tropical oceans, are explained. The relevance of the ocean circulation for abrupt climate change, as recorded from a variety of paleoclimate records, is discussed. This includes the bipolar seesaw concept which explains many features of interhemispheric response during the sequence of rapid warmings in the past ice age. Finally, the ocean’s role during the anthropocene, the time epoch which is dominated by the human-caused increase in greenhouse gases to levels unprecedented in the past 800,000 years, is explored. Both the warming and the increase in atmospheric transport of water polewards create conditions for the ocean that may induce large and irreversible changes in the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation.

      Keywords

      Ocean; Climate; General ocean circulation; Meridional fluxes; Air–sea fluxes; Past circulation; Future circulation; Bipolar seesaw

      1 Setting the Scene

      From certain points of view, the Earth appears as an almost perfect aquaplanet (Figure 1.1). This is a powerful visual testimony to the importance and key role of the ocean in the Earth's climate system. More than 70% of the entire Earth surface is covered by the ocean and therefore most of the lower boundary of the atmosphere is in contact with water or, in the high latitudes, with the seasonal sea ice cover.

      Figure 1.1 Ocean appearance of the Earth in an idealized cloud-free view constructed using Earth viewer (from 35,785 km above 10 °S, 160 °W).

      The ocean constitutes a virtually unlimited reservoir of water for the atmosphere because it is by many orders of magnitude the largest body of readily accessible water on Earth. Water is the principal resource of all life and thus represents a global commons. A quantitative understanding of the world ocean must therefore be a top priority of Earth System science. Such an understanding rests on three pillars: (i) in situ and remote observations with worldwide coverage; (ii) theoretical understanding of processes within the ocean and at its boundaries to other Earth System components; and (iii) capability of simulating ocean and climate processes in the past, present, and future, using a hierarchy of physical–biogeochemical models. Each of these pillars are considered in Section 2, Sections 3 and 4, and Chapter 2, and Sections 5 and 6, respectively.

      Due to its large spatial extent and as the principal water reservoir on Earth, the ocean supplies more than 80% of the water vapor for the atmosphere. When the mean atmospheric temperature is higher, the atmosphere contains more water vapor, which is drawn primarily from the ocean. In times of a colder atmosphere that water is returned to the ocean, or when the climate is significantly colder as during an ice age, a significant amount of water is transferred from the ocean to the large ice sheets on land. The ocean is thus the dominant source of the Earth's most important greenhouse gas, water vapor, which is primarily responsible for increasing the Earth's mean surface temperature by about 33 °C to its present value of about 15 °C. Therefore, the ocean is an essential component for habitability of the Earth.

      The climate system can be usefully partitioned into seven spheres which are physically coupled through exchange fluxes of energy, momentum, and matter. This is schematically illustrated in Figure 1.2. The notion sphere should not suggest that the Earth System components are separate entities, they are intertwined. This is, for example, evident for the hydrosphere which is present throughout the Earth System. The ocean as the major part of the Earth's hydrosphere interacts with all components of the Earth System. It is also coupled to biogeochemical processes through exchange fluxes of substances such as carbon, nitrogen, and many others. Hence, the Earth System cannot be understood without detailed quantitative knowledge of the ocean, its physical properties and the various processes that determine its status and its response to forcings and perturbations.

      Figure 1.2 Illustration of the seven spheres of the Earth System, which are intertwined and physically coupled through exchange fluxes of energy, momentum, and matter, and biogeochemically coupled through fluxes of carbon and other substances.

      The ocean is coupled to the atmosphere through exchanges of momentum, heat, water, and many substances such as oxygen, carbon dioxide, and other trace gases, and minerals in the form of dust and suspended solids. The exchange of momentum, mediated by the action of wind systems, is the primary driver of the ocean circulation, but also fluxes of heat and freshwater, which influence the density of ocean water and its regional distribution, are important in determining the properties and the flow of water masses.

      The cryosphere comprises the terrestrial ice sheets, glaciers, and sea ice, and these interact with the ocean directly and indirectly, both through the freshwater supply to the ocean and its effect on sea level (Chapter 27), and through the modification of the ocean–atmosphere heat exchange in the case of sea ice cover (Chapter 16). The ocean is also influenced by the terrestrial and marine biosphere, mainly through biogeochemical coupling via fluxes of carbon, oxygen, and nutrients. The pedosphere, that is, the land surface, directs river runoff and therefore the spatial distribution of freshwater delivery to the ocean, which modifies water mass properties and ocean circulation. The lithosphere comprises the solid Earth which supplies minerals through, for example, volcanism and weathering, and is responsible for processes that influence the geochemistry of the climate system. It is a component that is relevant when Earth System processes on time scales of 10⁵ years and longer are studied.

      The latter part of the eighteenth century marks the beginning of the industrial use of coal, and therefore a seventh sphere has started to become important in the Earth System. It is the anthroposphere, indicated in Figure 1.2, which comprises all human activities, for example, emissions of greenhouse gases through the burning of fossil fuels, land use change, particularly deforestation, and the input of dust and chemical constituents into the various spheres. Further, anthropogenic land surface changes also impact physical properties such as albedo, surface roughness, and regional water and heat balances. Human activities have become important drivers of climate and environmental change, and we now live in an epoch in which we leave traces and imprints that will be detectable by our successors using today's classical analytical methods many centuries and millennia from now. It is thus appropriate to put this epoch into a longer-term context of geological epochs by naming it Anthropocene, as proposed by Crutzen and Stoermer (2000). Therefore, understanding of the anthroposphere and its influence on all the other Earth System spheres is an important prerequisite for assessing the future evolution of the Earth's spheres on a human time scale and thereby for a responsible stewardship of our only home.

      2 The Ocean as an Exchanging Earth System Reservoir

      The ocean covers about 71% of the Earth surface and has a mean depth of 3734 m (Talley et al., 2011) as estimated from the most recent geodetic data analysis (Becker et al., 2009). The ocean volume is about 1.34 × 10¹⁸ m³ and thus contains more than 95% of the Earth's water that participates in the hydrological cycle. In addition, the ocean is a large reservoir of heat, and many substances that are cycled in the Earth System. Particularly, the ocean is the largest storage of carbon, apart from the lithosphere, which is not considered here.

      The ocean is a large reservoir of heat with a strong seasonal cycle of temperature observed in the upper 250 m. In the northern and southern hemispheres, the peak-to-peak variations, that is, summer minus winter, of the heat content in the upper 250 m are about 1.4 × 10²³ and 2 × 10²³ J, respectively (Antonov et al., 2004). The seasonal heat fluxes of 9–13 PW (1 PW = 10¹⁵ W) which effect these variations are mainly atmosphere–ocean heat fluxes, whereas the net meridional heat fluxes in the ocean are an order of magnitude smaller (see Section 3). The hemispheric asymmetry leads to a net seasonal cycle of the world ocean heat content with an amplitude of about 4 × 10²² J, which peaks in April and assumes a minimum in September (Antonov et al., 2004; Fasullo and Trenberth, 2008). Seasonal variations of sea-surface temperature are around 2 °C in the tropics and the Southern Ocean, and exceed 10 °C between about 30°N and 50°N in the western parts of the North Atlantic and North Pacific Ocean basins. Together with the seasonal cycle in the wind stress (Risien and Chelton, 2008), this causes substantial changes in the depth of the mixed layer and the thermocline, which in turn determine the upwelling and the availability of nutrients for the marine biosphere.

      Observations point to large seasonal variations in the water content of the atmosphere (Trenberth et al., 2007, 2011). Since the ocean is a fundamental component of the global water cycle, seasonal variations must also be present in the freshwater content of the ocean and are expressed most strongly near the surface because of air–sea coupling, continental runoff, and seasonal sea ice export from the polar regions. The summer-minus-winter differences of water content in the atmosphere are about 3 × 10¹⁵ kg in the northern, and 1.8 × 10¹⁵ kg in the southern hemisphere (Peixoto and Oort, 1992). There are large seasonal variations in the cross-equatorial water flux in the atmosphere, effected by the migration of the Intertropical Convergence Zone. In summer, there is water transport into the northern hemisphere of about 1.8 Sv, while in winter about 1.4 Sv is transported southward. This results in a net northward transfer of water in the atmosphere across the equator of about 0.4 Sv over the course of a year. Consequently, the northern hemisphere experiences an excess of precipitation over evaporation, which is then supplied to the ocean. The ocean closes the global water cycle by a net freshwater transport from the northern to the southern hemisphere of about 0.5 Sv (Wijffels, 2001). This is the net effect of the ocean circulation in all basins, and ocean-based observations are consistent with the estimate of atmospheric freshwater transport, within the uncertainties.

      Annual-mean fluxes of water between different reservoirs in the climate system are schematically illustrated in Figure 1.3. They are given as mass fluxes in 10¹⁵ kg/year. More commonly in oceanography and hydrology, such fluxes are reported as volume fluxes. A widely used and by now standard unit of large-scale volume flux in oceanography is 1 Sv = 1 Sverdrup = 10⁶ m³/s.¹ The large-scale hydrological volume fluxes are more commonly reported in 10³ km³/year.² Global runoff is thus estimated at about 1.3 Sv (Labat et al., 2004; Trenberth et al., 2007).

      Figure 1.3 Inventories of water (in 10¹⁵ kg) and water fluxes (italics, in 10¹⁵ kg/yr) in the Earth System, based on estimates by Trenberth et al. (2007).

      Water is transported between the reservoirs by regionally varying evaporation and precipitation, and by transport in the atmosphere and on land (Chapter 5). On a global scale, almost 10 times more water is delivered to the ocean by precipitation than by runoff from the continents. The latter compensates the slight imbalance between evaporation and precipitation over the ocean. The residence time τ of the water in the world ocean can be estimated by comparing the inventory V with the total influx F to the ocean, that is, τ = V/F. For the ocean, a mean residence time of water is about 3200 years, whereas it is less than 10 days for the atmosphere. However, if one determines the age of a particular water mass in the ocean, the internal transport of water in the ocean, and in particular the vertical transport of water masses, cannot be ignored in this regard. Near-surface waters have a much shorter residence time due to vigorous atmosphere–ocean interaction on a seasonal time scale, for example, the mixed layer has a residence time of somewhat more than 100 years.

      In order to appreciate the global significance of the ocean as a reservoir of water, heat, energy, and substances, particularly carbon, inventories, and gross fluxes of some quantities are summarized in Table 1.1. Large uncertainties exist for all quantities, specifically for those associated with the various forms of energy in the ocean (Ferrari and Wunsch, 2009). The total thermal energy of the ocean is about 3 × 10²⁵ J and is given only for the purpose of an order of magnitude estimate of the time it would take for the shortwave radiative input from the Sun to bring a totally ice covered ocean, a condition suggested to have occurred during the Snowball Earth phase some 500–1000 million years ago (Pierrehumbert et al., 2011), to today's mean temperature: a surprisingly short time of 6 years (assuming an ice cover of 10 m and all ocean water at freezing point). The energy contained in the general circulation is about 2 × 10²⁵ J (Wunsch and Ferrari, 2004), and therefore of the same order of magnitude, but this quantity is not physically relevant because most of it is potential energy that is not available for the circulation (Ferrari and Wunsch, 2010). The circulation in the ocean is driven by a total supply of energy from the atmosphere of about 2.6 × 10¹² W which stems from the input of mechanical energy through the action of wind and from heat fluxes across the ocean surface to compensate for the dissipation of available potential energy (see Table 1.1, footnote h).

      Table 1.1

      Estimates of Inventories of Basic Ocean Quantities, Gross Fluxes Across the Ocean Surface, and Anthropogenic Perturbation Fluxes

      Fluxes into the ocean are positive.

      a From melting of glaciers and ice sheets from 2003 to 2009 (Riva et al., 2010).

      b Referred to the freezing temperature of sea water (− 1.8 °C), and assuming a global mean ocean temperature of 3.8 °C.

      c Annual mean solar energy flux into the ocean (Stephens et al., 2012).

      d From the change in the ocean heat storage from 1972 to 2008 (Church et al., 2011), and later corrected (J. Church, personal communications).

      e Total kinetic energy as estimated by Wunsch (1998).

      f Work done by wind (Munk and Wunsch, 1998).

      g Referred to ocean bottom (Huang, 2010). A smaller estimate of 2 × 10²⁰ J is by Ferrari and Wunsch (2010).

      h Annual mean solar energy flux transferred to the oceans available potential energy. The net flux required to compensate dissipation is much smaller, ca. 1.4 × 10¹² W (Oort et al., 1994) from thermal, and 1.2 × 10¹² W from mechanical energy flux.

      . 1 Gt = 10¹² kg.

      j Estimated mean ocean uptake of carbon 1990–2005 (Denman et al., 2007).

      The ocean inventories are not constant through time but measurably affected by natural climate variability and anthropogenic climate change (Chapters 27, 28, and 30). The associated anthropogenic fluxes of mass of water, thermal energy, and carbon are also included in Table 1.1. Currently, further mass is added to the world ocean from the melting of the large ice sheets of Greenland and Antarctica, and of ice caps and glaciers around the world. Based on gravimetric satellite data, this amounts to about 3.6 × 10¹⁴ kg of water every year. Although only about 1% of global runoff, this additional mass flux constitutes more than 50% of the observed sea-level rise of the past decades, about 1.1 mm/year since 1972 (Church et al., 2011). The world ocean is also absorbing a large amount of thermal energy estimated at a rate of about 1.9 × 10¹⁴ W since 1972 (Church et al., 2011), and thus has a slowing effect on anthropogenic climate change, as it stores a substantial fraction of the heat, some of which would otherwise be observed in the atmosphere in response to the increase in greenhouse gas concentrations. This heat causes a warming of the upper ocean and an associated contribution to sea-level rise of about 0.8 mm/year since 1972. A significantly larger average energy flux into the ocean of about 2.3·10¹⁴ W from 1993 to 2008 was reported by Lyman et al. (2010).

      The world ocean is also a large reservoir of carbon, which exchanges with the atmosphere on a very rapid time scale (Table 1.1, Chapter 30). Ocean carbon is present mainly in the form of dissolved bicarbonate and carbonate whose repartitioning is determined by the ocean's acidity–alkalinity balance. As a carbon reservoir, the ocean is over 60 times larger than the atmosphere and about 16 times larger than the terrestrial biosphere (Denman et al., 2007; Ciais et al., 2013). Carbon is transferred primarily between the atmosphere and the ocean through the gas exchange of CO2. An associated carbon renewal time is estimated at about 540 years for the entire ocean but significantly faster, only about 13 years, for the carbon found in the surface ocean. The rapid gas exchange and the chemical equilibration between the different dissolved forms of carbon in the surface ocean generate an effective carbon buffering in the world ocean. Therefore, the ocean acts as an important storage of additional carbon from the atmosphere, which results from a variety of human activities, specifically the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation. The increase in the atmospheric carbon inventory, and hence the CO2 concentration, would be about 70% larger than without the substantial storage effect of the world ocean. In consequence, the ocean plays an increasingly important role as a storage of anthropogenic waste: the ocean takes up heat driven by changes in the Earth's energy balance, and it takes up carbon due to the increase of CO2 in the atmosphere.

      3 Atmosphere–Ocean Fluxes and Meridional Transports

      The previous subsection has provided a global overview of the sizes of major inventories and fluxes associated with quantities important for the world ocean. This has merely set the scene, but more relevant information on the role of the ocean in the climate system is obtained from considering the major drivers, in particular their spatial structure at the ocean–atmosphere interface. A large input of mechanical energy is provided by the periodic variations of the differential gravitational attraction between the Earth and the Moon and, to a lesser extent, the Sun, which generate the tides around the globe. Together their supply of power to the ocean is estimated at about 3.5 × 10¹² W (Munk and Wunsch, 1998). Tides have a crucial impact on ocean mixing in the interior of the ocean through the breaking of internal waves (Chapters 7 and 8), and dissipation around the continental boundaries and the ocean floor through turbulence, which is generated by the periodic tidal currents. Together with mixing effected by eddies in the mean flow, each with strongly regional patterns, mixing is important on a global scale as it ultimately determines the large-scale aspects of the internal distribution of water masses (Chapters 9 and 10). However, tides have little direct effect on the general circulation of the world ocean, because the tidal residual mean circulation is at least an order of magnitude smaller than the large-scale overturning circulation and smaller still than the large-scale horizontal flow (Bessières et al., 2008).

      Instead, the general circulation of the world ocean is mainly driven by the atmosphere–ocean fluxes of three quantities that together supply mechanical, thermal, and available potential energy via the transfer of momentum, heat and freshwater to the ocean (Chapters 11 and 12). The annual mean values of these fluxes and their global distribution are depicted in Figure 1.4.

      Figure 1.4 Major drivers of ocean processes and ocean circulation from various data sources. Shown are time-averaged quantities: (a) wind stress (arrows) and atmosphere-to-ocean momentum flux (colors); (b) net atmosphere-to-ocean heat flux; (c) net freshwater flux excluding river runoff, that is, precipitation minus evaporation, and (d) net atmosphere-to-ocean carbon flux in the year 2000, indicating a large imbalance caused by the uptake of anthropogenic carbon by the ocean. Momentum flux is everywhere into the ocean; positive (negative) values indicate that this flux is caused by a westerly (easterly) wind stress. In panels (b–d), fluxes are positive when they are from the atmosphere to the ocean. Figures are redrawn based on data from Large and Yeager (2009), and for (d) from Takahashi et al. (2009).

      Momentum is imparted to the surface layers of the ocean through the action of the wind systems in the atmosphere and the associated horizontal stresses on the ocean surface. Surface wind stress is produced by the large-scale atmospheric circulation and partly influenced by air–sea fluxes of heat and water vapor. On a global scale, wind stress is oriented primarily zonally with meridional components that are much weaker. The strongest wind stresses are observed in the westerly wind belt of the Southern Ocean, where they force the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (Figure 1.4a). The wind stress causes most of the large-scale circulation, but only rather indirectly because its effect is strongly modified by the rotation of the Earth. This is achieved by Ekman transport of water over the top few tens of meters of the ocean. Ekman transport scales with the magnitude of the wind stress and is directed to the right (left) in the northern (southern) hemisphere, relative to the wind direction. Its spatial variations cause distortions of the ocean surface and interior layers, which in turn generate horizontal pressure gradients. It is these pressure gradients which drive the large-scale gyre circulations observed in all ocean basins (Chapters 11−14).

      The net heat flux to the ocean is a result of the sum of shortwave solar radiative flux, longwave thermal radiative fluxes from the ocean surface (upwelling radiation) and the atmosphere (downwelling radiation), the sensible heat flux, and the latent heat flux. On the global scale, the ocean gains heat roughly between 20°S and 20°N and releases heat poleward of this area. This implies that in the global mean, the ocean must transport heat away from the equator. The world ocean is therefore not simply a passive reservoir but an active component participating in the global heat redistribution in the Earth's climate system (Chapter 29). Regions of strongest heat exchange are clearly identified in the global datasets presented in Figure 1.4b. They are spatially very limited and indicate particular ocean circulation regimes. Heat is taken up in excess of 100 W/m² in the eastern equatorial Pacific, where a major ocean upwelling system is located and which generates the most important and coherent mode of internal atmosphere–ocean variability, the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) phenomenon. Strong heat release on the order of 150 W/m² and more is observed at the western boundaries of the ocean basins, and they coincide with the current systems of the Gulf Stream and the Kuroshio, and the Agulhas retroflection off South Africa. Large heat releases are also indicated in the Nordic Seas and the Arctic Ocean. The distinct heat gains and heat losses in the ocean at different latitudes imply meridional heat transports by the ocean circulation in each basin.

      The gross flux of freshwater to the ocean is estimated at about 4.1 × 10¹⁷ kg/year (Table 1.1) and consists of precipitation (about 90%), river runoff (almost 10%), and ice-sheet melting (nearly 0.1%), the latter being partially compensated by net accumulation on the ice sheets. Imbalances in this freshwater cycle are caused by recent warming and ice-sheet melting. Although they are small (Table 1.1), they are measurable and have a large long-term impact through the rise in sea level. The freshwater balance is achieved mainly by precipitation and evaporation on the ocean's surface, each with a distinct spatial distribution that shows a largely zonal structure on a global scale (Figure 1.4c). This results in a net surface water balance which is characterized by freshwater gain in a narrow equatorial band on the order of 50–100 cm/year with a maximum in the Western Pacific warm pool, freshwater loss to the atmosphere in the subtropical dry zones, and net freshwater gain again in the higher latitudes of both hemispheres. On a global scale, the tropics and subtropics lose freshwater at a rate of about 1 Sv while gains are estimated north of 30°N at about 0.4 Sv, and south of 30°S at about 0.6 Sv (Talley, 2008). As inferred earlier for the heat fluxes, this also implies a meridional transport of freshwater by the ocean circulation in order to close the global water cycle.

      A global view of the air-to-sea flux of carbon illustrates the large imprint of the natural carbon cycle at the ocean surface (Figure 1.4d). Carbon enters the ocean in the midlatitudes of the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans roughly in the areas of the Kuroshio and Gulf Stream, and the Nordic Seas. Also, carbon is taken up in a large band circling most of the Southern Ocean. Major areas of carbon release are located in the tropical Pacific, the Arabian Sea and the northernmost Pacific Ocean, as well as around Antarctica (Takahashi et al., 2009). This latitudinal dependence of air–sea carbon fluxes is mainly temperature driven, as the solubility of CO2 in warmer ocean water is lower than that in colder water. An imprint of the net uptake of anthropogenic carbon is contained in Figure 1.4d (Chapter 30), but this does not change much the dominant patterns of the gross fluxes.

      In the time mean, atmosphere–ocean fluxes are indicators of convergent and divergent meridional fluxes in the ocean. With suitable boundary conditions, for example, no transport across the boundary of Antarctica, meridional fluxes can be calculated from the surface data (Large and Yeager, 2009). This is shown in Figure 1.5. Globally, the ocean transports heat at about 2 × 10¹⁵ W northward in the northern hemisphere but only about 0.5 × 10¹⁵ W southward in the southern hemisphere. The ocean transports freshwater southward at midlatitudes of the northern hemisphere and, equally, exports large amounts of freshwater from the Southern Ocean. The ocean therefore essentially supplies the freshwater that is lost to the atmosphere in the zones of excessive evaporation (Figure 1.4c). Atmosphere and ocean are therefore tightly coupled through the global water cycle. However, these estimates are plagued with large uncertainties as indicated by directly determined meridional heat fluxes on measurements along hydrographic sections, combined with dynamical constraints as calculated by Ganachaud and Wunsch (2003). They find larger ocean heat transports in the southern hemisphere. Uncertainties are larger still for estimates of the meridional freshwater fluxes in the ocean (Wijffels, 2001).

      Figure 1.5 Global ocean and basin meridional fluxes 1984–2006 of (a) heat, (b) freshwater, and (c) carbon. Meridional fluxes are determined by integrating the data shown in Figure 1.4 in the Atlantic and Indo-Pacific ocean basins from north to south, assuming zero flux at the northern basin boundary and a globally uniform correction for each quantity to ensure zero flux at the southern end. Northward fluxes are positive. The range of interannual variability in global heat and freshwater fluxes is indicated by the turqouise band.

      Although uncertainties and differences between the various approaches remain large, a robust picture emerges for the heat and freshwater in the different ocean basins. In the Atlantic ocean, heat is transported northward; in the Pacific and Indian Oceans combined, poleward in both hemispheres. This transport is effected mainly through the meridional overturning circulation (Ganachaud and Wunsch, 2003). The basin-wide meridional heat flux in the Pacific Ocean in the northern hemisphere is northward and carried by shallow overturning, but it amounts to less than half of that carried by the Atlantic Ocean (Talley, 2003).

      In terms of freshwater fluxes, various processes need to be considered in addition to evaporation and precipitation over the ocean area: transfer of water from land to the ocean as river runoff, freshwater fluxes between ocean basins through straits, and freshwater transfer from one ocean basin to another via the atmosphere. Global river runoff is estimated at about 1.3 Sv ≈ 40 × 10¹⁵ kg/yr (Figure 1.3). Flows through the Bering Strait (about 1 Sv, not considered in Figure 1.5) and the Indonesian Archipelago (about 10 Sv, Chapter 19) connect the Pacific Ocean with the Arctic basin and the Indian Ocean, respectively, and are important elements in the maintenance of the distinctly different salinity signatures

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